Subscribe to Updates

GGet my latest post in your inbox

Loading

I’LL NEVER CALL HIM DAD AGAIN by Caroline Darian

Caroline Darian is the daughter of Gisele Pelicot, the French woman whose husband drugged her night after night and let men sexually assault her while she slept. Her father’s trial attracted international attention and highlighted her mother’s bravery, as she opted for an open courtroom.  Darian’s memoir, I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again, was written before the trial and focuses on her relationship with her mother after learning about the assaults, as well as her anger at her father for abusing his wife and destroying his family’s lives. Darian has also become a vocal advocate for women who have experienced

Read More »

THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach

The Wedding People by Alison Espach is about Phoebe, a woman who has hit rock bottom and leaves her life in St. Louis behind to go to her dream hotel in Newport RI to kill herself. When she gets there, she discovers that she is the only hotel guest there who is not part of an extravagant weeklong wedding planned by bridezilla Lila. When Lila figures out why Phoebe is there, she inserts herself into

Read More »

MIDDLETIDE by Sarah Crouch

Middletide by Sarah Crouch was a BOTM pick earlier this year, and it’s not my usual fare but I was looking for something that would draw me in. It’s a mystery that takes place in a small town in Washington, among a fictional indigenous tribe. Elijah has returned home to his family’s empty, isolated home on a lake after giving up on his dream of becoming a writer. He tries to rekindle his relationship with

Read More »

WE ARE TOO MANY by Hannah Pittard

We Are Too Many by Hannah Pittard is a memoir about the breakup of the author’s marriage after her husband has an affair with her best friend. Pittard jumps back and forth in time, examining her relationship with both of the betraying parties and trying to understand her own role in what went wrong. The format is interesting – some chapters are short vignettes, some are more traditional retellings of episodes throughout the marriage, and

Read More »

THE WORLD AFTER ALICE by Lauren Aliza Green

I’ve gotten behind on posts again – damn this pesky bookstore! – but I am determined to catch up. The obvious solution is to write shorter posts. This doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’m gonna try. The World After Alice by Lauren Aliza Green is a character-driven drama about two families tied together by Alice – who jumped from a bridge her senior year of high school. Twelve years have passed, and her best

Read More »

CHARM CITY ROCKS by Matthew Norman

I can’t remember where I learned about Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman, but I liked the plot and have read two other Norman novels (Domestic Violets and All Together Now), so I added it to my library list. It was the right book at the right time a few weeks ago, and I got my hands on the audio as well, so off I went. Charm City Rocks takes place in Baltimore (duh). It’s

Read More »

MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES by Rufi Thorpe

It has been a long time since I was here to post reviews. Opening the bookstore has really taken over my life! I am not reading nearly as much as I used to, and most of my waking hours are now spent doing store-related things. I am not complaining – I have zero regrets and am enjoying every stage of the process. It has just changed my life a lot. Here’s a bookstore update. Demo

Read More »

THE CARETAKER by Ron Rash

Years ago, I read Ron Rash’s novel The Risen, about the complicated relationship between two brothers and a young woman who comes to their small Appalachian town, driving a wedge between them that survives into adulthood. I was taken by the quietness of Rash’s writing, and the deceptive simplicity of his story. I’ve always wanted to pick up another Rash book, so this spring I bought The Caretaker, his newest novel, on one of my

Read More »

SUMMER FRIDAYS by Suzanne Rindell

Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell is a romance set in 1999 in New York City, a nostalgic time before cell phones and social media, where you could be out all day and no one would know where you were. Twentysomething Sawyer works in publishing and lives with her fiancé Charles, a young associate at a big law firm. Charles is working long hours, side by side with another associate named Kendra. One night, at a

Read More »

SHARK HEART by Emily Habeck

I have been consumed by bookstore stuff lately and while I’ve actually finished a few books, I haven’t had a chance to review them. I am going to try to keep my reviews a little shorter going forward so that I can keep up with this blog as the bookstore opening approaches. I know that many people initially took a pass on Shark Heart by Emily Habeck because of its unusual premise – a man

Read More »

HOW TO PROTECT BOOKSTORES AND WHY by Danny Caine

I bought How To Protect Bookstores And Why: The Present and Future of Bookselling (from Bookshop.org, of course) about a year ago. I read it very slowly, not daring to presume that it would soon be very relevant to my life. But, of course, it now is, and I finished it a few weeks ago just as the plans for Wonderland Books became public. I recommend it to anyone who believes in the value of

Read More »

SOCIOPATH: A MEMOIR by Patric Gagne

Sociopath by Patric Gagne is a memoir about the author’s experience going through life as a sociopath. As a young girl, Gagne knew that there was something different about her, but it took her a few decades to truly understand what it was. Sociopath is not only about her process of accepting herself as she is, but also her effort to help other sociopaths as they too follow the road to understanding and acceptance. Why

Read More »

Introducing Wonderland Books!

Hi EDIWTB Readers! I am posting today with some very exciting news. I am opening a bookstore! Owning a bookstore has been a dream of mine for a very long time. (If you’re a reader of this blog I don’t think I need to tell you why.) I’ve spent the last 18 months or so planning this out, acquiring an amazing partner, developing a business plan, finding a place, negotiating a lease, and learning everything

Read More »

GREEN DOT by Madeleine Gray

I love when authors take common scenarios and, thanks to introspective, detailed writing, turn them into unique stories that feel fresh and original. That’s the case with Green Dot by Madeleine Gray. Hera is an aimless twentysomething woman living in Sydney who takes a job as a discussion moderator for an online news site. Her job is soulless and boring, but a few days in, she meets an older journalist who sits on the other

Read More »

MERCURY by Amy Jo Burns

I am way behind on posts, so in order to catch up these next few are going to be short! Mercury by Amy Jo Burns takes place in a small depressed town in Pennsylvania. Marley moves to town with her mother as a senior in high school and quickly gets involved with Baylor, the eldest of three sons in a local family that runs the town’s roofing business. Marley soon becomes entrenched in the Joseph

Read More »

VICTIM by Andrew Boryga

Just as last year’s juggernaut Yellowface featured a shameless, amoral author taking advantage of woke liberalism and tokenism in publishing, Andrew Boryga’s Victim does the same thing with journalism. It looks at victimhood -projected, experienced or faked – and how one young man’s manipulation of it sent him soaring, and then crashing, through the New York City journalism scene. If you enjoy fast-paced novels with unlikeable characters and can’t-look-away plot trainwrecks, then Victim is for

Read More »